In the second year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch party led by Wei Zhongxian gradually withdrew from the stage of history with the death of Wei Zhongxian and the liquidation of the Chongzhen Emperor. The fundamental problem of eunuchs did not completely withdraw from the stage of the Ming Dynasty.
With the reappearance of eunuchs, the Ming Dynasty and the wilderness once again disturbed, and party strife still filled the entire Ming Dynasty. The farce reached August of the following year and officially reached its climax. A prisoner from Liaodong was sentenced to capital punishment for "trespassing."
Shi Jiyun: "Punishment, torture", this prisoner's crime is enough to reach the point of a thousand knives. According to historical records, when the prisoner was executed, the people of the capital gathered at the execution site of the capital to vent their hatred.
They "buy a piece of meat for a piece of silver, and they will scold when they eat!" In an instant, the prisoner's shaved flesh was bought by the people of the capital. Who was this prisoner, and what did the people hate him so much that they ate his flesh.
His name was Yuan Chonghuan, and he was the Ming army inspector who guarded Liaodong at the Ming court at that time, and his death began with the Ming Dynasty, which was about to end.
Meritorious death sheji
In 1368, the beggar emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, and in the same year invaded the Yuan capital, beating the Mongols back to the north of the desert. At the beginning of the founding of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted a policy of ignoring the small endowments and living with the people, and the national strength of the Ming Dynasty was rapidly restored.
Looking at the increasingly powerful Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang moved the idea of the Northern Expedition, and in 1370 Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu and other generals raised troops to the Northern Expedition. At the same time of the Northern Expedition, Zhu Yuanzhang's butcher's knife was also slowly raised to all the founding heroes.
In 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang, in the name of seizing evidence of the rebellion of the chancellor Hu Weiyong, killed Hu Weiyong and his party, with more than 30,000 people implicated; in 1390, Zhu Yuanzhang expanded the Hu Weiyong case and executed Li Shanchang, the founding hero; the following year, in the name of raising soldiers to rebel, he executed the founding general Lan Yu, and more than 15,000 people were implicated.
While establishing the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang also set a precedent for the slaughter of heroes for future Ming monarchs.
In 1449, due to listening to the eunuch rumors, Emperor Mingyingzong Zhu Qi was captured by the Wala army at Tumu Fort, and half a million Ming troops were completely annihilated. When the Ming Dynasty was leaderless, Yu Qian stepped forward and, together with Empress Sun, established Zhu Qiyu the Prince of Qiyu to succeed to the throne, stabilizing the political situation of the Ming Dynasty.
In the face of the approaching Wallachian army, Yu Qian was not in danger, leading the soldiers and civilians in the capital to block the enemy together, from the initial offensive and defensive battles to the initiative to attack out of the city, Yu Qian was a pioneer. At that time, the whole court and even the military and civilians in the capital worshipped it as a god to protect Daming.
The Wa people, who could not take advantage, turned around and proposed peace talks to the Ming Dynasty, and after half a year of maneuvering, Ming Yingzong was released by the Wa people. However, Zhu Qiyu, who coveted the throne, was placed under house arrest for 7 years.
It was not until 1457 that Emperor Mingyingzong launched the "Change of The Gate" to claim the throne again, and Zhu Qizhen launched a bloody revenge against Zhu Qiyu's former subjects, the first of which was Yu Qian, who had made great achievements in the defense of Beijing.
Emperor Ming Yingzong completely disregarded Yu Qian's efforts to defend Daming and sentenced him to beheading in the name of rebellion. On the day of his execution, more than 10,000 people in the capital came to see Yu Qian off, men, women, and children were weeping for Yu Shaobao, and even more for this fainting Daming.
With one sword, Daming's sky darkened for half a month, and there was another unjust hero with the same name as Yue Fei in the history books.
A generation of famous generals Yuan Chonghuan
After Emperor Ming Yingzong, the Ming Dynasty was like an old and heavy ship, which traveled for more than a hundred years in the rough seas. In the last years of the Wanli Calendar, the entire Ming Dynasty had long lost the momentum of the huge empire of the past, and there were constant violations by the Wokou on the outside and repeated disturbances in the Liaodong Jurchens.
In 1583, Nurhaci of the Jurchen clan of Liaodong led an uprising and successively unified the Jurchen tribes. In 1616, Nurhaci called himself the "Great Khan" with the national name "Houjin" and officially broke away from the rule of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, in the Ming Dynasty Hall, the party struggle between the castration party and the Donglin party also entered a white-hot stage.
It was also during this period that Guangdong scholar Yuan Chonghuan was awarded the rank of Shaowuzhi County in Fujian Province. During his tenure, he often discussed frontier defense with veterans, and over time, he became known as a "talented person on the side".
In 1622, Yuan Chonghuan entered The Capital for the first time, and was promoted to the military department because of his military qualities, which was appreciated by The Imperial Marquis. Soon, the Later Jin army captured Quang Ninh, and Liaodong retreated to Shanhaiguan via Xiong Tingbi.
Due to the continuous party struggle at this time, the ruling class of Daming only made a resolution to "stick to Shanhaiguan and then make plans" in this regard. This made Yuan Chonghuan very annoyed, and mao wrote to mao to introduce himself to jingluoshan customs.
After receiving permission, Yuan Chonghuan soon wrote to Sun Chengzong, a military attendant, advocating the defense of Ningyuan, which was adopted by Sun Chengzong, and the frontier was once stable. However, the following year, Sun Chengzong resigned his official post and returned to his hometown because of the castration party, and Nurhaci took the opportunity to lead his army directly to Ningyuan.
At a critical juncture, Yuan Chonghuan personally presided over the overall situation, launched a fierce battle with the Later Jin army at Ningyuan City, and injured the Later Jin Khan Nurhaci in the battle, resulting in his death half a year later, and the Ming Court made Yuan Chonghuan a military attendant and inspector of Liaodong, commanding the Liaodong military.
In the recital to the emperor, Yuan Chonghuan, in order to avoid the misfortune of Sun Chengzong in the past, praised the eunuch leader Wei Zhongxian in the recital, saying that "the ancient inner subjects are unsurpassed". But he didn't know that these few words had also become a major piece of evidence for the Chongzhen Emperor to liquidate his guilt in the coming day.
After Nurhaci's death, Emperor Taiji succeeded to the Khan's throne and personally conquered the Korean Peninsula. At this time, a warrior named Mao Wenlong attacked Houjin behind enemy lines, and this meritorious warrior who had made meritorious contributions to the war against the Wanli Dynasty was appointed by the imperial court as the left governor of the military department.
On the other hand, Mao Wenlong was not only suspected of killing good and risking merit, but also had an arrogant personality because of his repeated military achievements, doing more pompous things, asking for too much grain and pay, sitting on the island, and enjoying wealth and wealth exclusively.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty had already taken the turn of the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian to sit in Jiangshan, and in Yuan Chonghuan's eyes, although Mao Wenlong did not fake the resistance to Houjin, his military expenditure was huge, and it was really not worth mentioning.
In 1629, Yuan Chonghuan set up a Feast of Hongmen and killed Mao Wenlong with the sword of Shangfang. Although this move solved a big expense for the Ming Dynasty and itself, it also left a fatal handle for itself to act beyond its authority.
After removing all kinds of restraints, Yuan Chonghuan boasted to the emperor that Haikou would "recover Liaodong within five years". When Emperor Taiji crossed the Jiliao Defense Line in 1629 and directly attacked the Beijing Division, Yuan Chonghuan led his army to arrive with the enemy's tail, and after a bitter battle, he completely repelled the Houjin army.
Yuan Chonghuan can appear in the most critical place of the Houjin Army every time, which makes the Houjin Group regard it as a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh. Soon, a divisive plan about Yuan Chonghuan quietly unfolded...
Self-destructed the Chongzhen Emperor of the Great Wall
With the control of liaodong command, Yuan Chonghuan's power grew. In order to get rid of Yuan Chonghuan's huge problem, Emperor Taiji secretly contacted Yu Dang, who bribed Wei Zhongxian, to let him constantly count Yuan Chonghuan's guilt around the emperor.
Over time, the emperor's attitude toward Yuan Chonghuan slowly changed, and criticism of Yuan Chonghuan gradually arose in the court, and Yuan Chonghuan was soon transferred back to the capital for investigation. At this time, Emperor Taiji, who hated Yuan Chonghuan to the bone, forged correspondence, further confirming Yuan Chonghuan's crime of colluding with Hou Jin.
In the end, one after another "ironclad evidence" poured out Zhu Youjian's last trust. The Chongzhen Emperor counted Yuan Chonghuan's guilt, saying that he had smuggled wei Zhongxian's castration party, saying that he was late in coming to the capital when he was in danger, because he was leading the way for Hou Jin, and the battle with the Hou Jin army was completely a deceptive strategy.
Killing Mao Wenlong is even more of a "killing good and risking merit", which is to submit his own name to Hou Jinna, so that after Hou Jin enters the customs, he will be a good official and a knight. According to the Ming Law, the Chongzhen Emperor beheaded all men over the age of sixteen in Yuan Chonghuan's family, his wives and concubines and brothers were appointed as border troops, and Yuan Chonghuan himself was executed as Ling Chi.
When Yuan Chonghuan was tortured, the people of the capital clapped their hands and praised him, and ate his flesh raw. Yuan Chonghuan's former followers scattered, leaving only his dead bones hanging in the west fourth archway of the capital. That night, the people of Beijing rushed to tell each other, and their homes were illuminated to celebrate the execution of this "Qin Juniper" in the world.
As everyone knows, the Emperor Taiji, who is a hundred miles away, is even happier than them at this time, and everyone in the Later Jin Dynasty knows that such a great Ming Dynasty is only one step away from the fall of the country.
In 1636, Emperor Taiji was proclaimed emperor in Shengjing, with the national name "Qing". Eight years later, Li Zicheng attacked the Forbidden City, and the Chongzhen Emperor fled to the Jingshan locust tree and used a three-foot white cloth to use himself as a martyr of the Ming Dynasty.
Soon after Chongzhen's death, Wu Sangui led the Qing army into the pass and into the capital. Only then did the people recall how they and the Chongzhen Emperor of the former dynasty had killed Inspector Yuan, and they had begun to truly reflect on whether it was Qin Ju or Yue Fei who was executed on the execution ground in the capital that day.
More than 200 years later, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, who fled overseas due to the failure of the Penghu Reform Law, once commented on this period of history: "The Ming court destroyed the Great Wall, avenged the enemy, and created the first unjust prison in the ancient world."
After two hundred years, Yuan Chonghuan changed from a traitor who was scolded by thousands of people before his death to a hero who "has a bearing on the safety of the country and the rise and fall of the nation" after his death, and the reasons for this are quite worthy of the careful savoring of today's people.